Luigi Manocchio
Luigi Giovanni Manocchio (born 1927) known as "Louie", "The Professor", "The Old Man" and "Baby Shacks", was a Providence-based mobster and former boss of the Patriarca crime family from 1996–2009. Manocchio was a shrewd, opportunistic old-school leader who excelled at keeping a low profile. Biography Manocchio has a criminal record dating back to the 1940s. In 1969, Manocchio was indicted for participating in the murders of Rudolph Marfeo and Anthony Melei. He fled to France, but later returned to the United States, living undercover in New York City for most of the 1970s. In 1979, Manocchio finally surrendered to law enforcement and pleaded guilty to several lesser charges. He was sentenced to 30 months in prison. Manocchio was also once arrested for theft after authorities found a stolen washing machine in his mother's house, which Manocchio had given to her as a gift. In July 1996, Mannocchio was indicted with 43 others in a burglary ring. Prosecutors claimed that this Patriarca-sanctioned gang was responsible for stealing $10 million in merchandise. When his trial began in April 1999, Manocchio pleaded guilty to reduced charges and was sentenced to three years of probation. Since then, Manocchio has continued his steady rise in the ranks of organized crime, becoming boss in 1996. Manocchio was promoted to boss of the Patriarca crime family following the imprisonment of many of the organization's other leaders. Mannochio's headquarters is a laundromat in the Federal Hill section of Providence. In March 1999, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) charged family enforcer James Palumbo in New Haven, Connecticut, and associates Rocco Folco and Anthony St. Laurent with loan sharking. In December 2004, Palumbo was named, but not indicted, and later jailed, in a case involving Boston mob captain Frederick Simone as the defendant. Manocchio has been described as "tough and capable". The indictment identified Manocchio as Patriarca crime family boss, Sonny Rizzo as underboss, Rocco Argenta as consigliere and Carmen DiNunzio, Mark Rossetti and Matthew Guglielmetti as capos. On January 20, 2005, the FBI raided the Providence office of the Laborers' International Union of North America (LIUNA) and the offices of Capital City Concrete in Cranston, Rhode Island, all part of an investigation into labor racketeering in the Rhode Island construction business. Among those arrested in the Capital City raid was Guglielmetti, who was charged with overseeing distribution of cocaine bound for Canada, and money laundering. 2011 Conviction In November, 2009, Manocchio reportedly ceded control of the Patriarca crime family to mobster Peter Limone. In 2008, Manocchio was indicted on charges of extorting payments from the owners of the Cadillac Lounge and Satin Doll club, both adult entertainment establishments in Providence and in 2001 for extorting strip clubs in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Manocchio pled guilty and was sentenced to five and a half years in prison. Manocchio told the court: "By virtue of my position, I inherited the deeds of my associates" and "I simply do not want my family or my friends to believe I personally threatened anybody". Manocchio and other members and associates of the Patriarca crime family are currently eligible to be released to a half way house in 2014 and could be back on the streets of New England this year. It remains to be seen if the aging Manocchio will return to the crime family or retire. He is 87 years old. Release On May 14, 2015 Manocchio was released from prison, checked into in a halfway house located in Massachusetts and is currently residing on home confinement in Rhode Island. Category:Bosses Category:Patriarca Crime Family